HB154: Campus police; local law-enforcement agency to be notified of certain reports.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That § 23-234 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 23-234. Powers and duties; jurisdiction.

A. A campus police officer appointed as provided in § 23-233, or appointed and activated pursuant to § 23-233.1, may exercise the powers and duties conferred by law upon police officers of cities, towns, or counties, and shall be so deemed, including but not limited to, the provisions of Chapters 5 (§ 19.2-52 et seq.), 7 (§ 19.2-71 et seq.), and 23 (§ 19.2-387 et seq.) of Title 19.2, (i) upon any property owned or controlled by the relevant public or private institution of higher education, or, upon request and in compliance with § 15.2-1727, on any property owned or controlled by another public or private institution of higher education; and upon the streets, sidewalks, and highways, immediately adjacent thereto,; (ii) pursuant to a mutual aid agreement provided for in accordance with § 15.2-1727 between the governing board of a  the relevant public or private institution and such other public or private institution of higher education, public or private, in the Commonwealth or adjacent political subdivisions,; (iii) in close pursuit of a person as provided in § 19.2-77,; and (iv) upon approval by the appropriate circuit court of a petition by the local governing body for concurrent jurisdiction in designated areas with the police officers of the county, city, or town in which the institution, its satellite campuses, or other properties are located. The local governing body may petition the circuit court pursuant only to a request by the local law-enforcement agency for concurrent jurisdiction.

B. Regardless of whether a public or private institution of higher education has entered into a mutual aid agreement to maintain peace and good order with the governing bodies of localities pursuant to § 15.2-1727, the campus police chief or other chief law- enforcement officer of such institution of higher education or his designee shall immediately notify the primary local law- enforcement agency of the jurisdiction in which the institution is located of (i) the death of any person on the property of the institution when such person is medically unattended and (ii) any report alleging a rape has occurred on the property of the institution.

After providing notification of any medically unattended death or alleged rape to the primary local law-enforcement agency of the jurisdiction in which the institution is located, the campus police chief or other chief law-enforcement officer and all other employees of such institution of higher education shall participate in any subsequent investigation and cooperate with the law-enforcement agency leading the investigation.